The movement to decrease transportation costs, packaging size, environmental waste and valuable store shelf space has increased the demand for innovative packaging for a wide range of products. Many products are sold as liquid concentrates, crystals and powders to be mixed with a liquid prior to consumption or use. Such products include foods, drugs, cosmetics, adhesives, polishes, cleansers, dyes, infant formula, drink mixes, meal replacements, protein powders, energy mixes, supplements, nutritional products and other substances. Some of these products do not retain their stability, strength and effectiveness for long after they have been mixed in solution or suspension, yet the product can be stored for extended periods of time if one ingredient is maintained separate from the other. This necessarily requires that the product be utilized relatively soon after mixture to prevent deterioration, spoilage, interactions and the like. Well known illustrative examples include epoxy adhesives, infant formula and enzyme enriched nutritional products.
Simultaneously, the active on-the-go lifestyle has also fueled the demand for portable, disposable and convenient product delivery packaging that delivers a premeasured amount of one ingredient for mixing with a measured amount of a liquid to insure that the desired solution concentration is obtained. Manufacturers are presented with a number of challenges in merchandising of products of this genre. In order to supply two companion products to the consumer in a single package, it obviously is desirable that both ingredients be sold as part of the same package such that a single package be utilized for maintaining such compounds separated.
Consumers are also presented a number of challenges in using these products. Consumers often purchase large containers or bulk quantities of infant formulas, drink mixes, meal supplement or nutritional powders. A small single serving portion of such powder or drink mix must be combined with water or other suitable liquids for consumption. However, the inconveniences associated with the use of such large containers of powders or mixes is well known. Consumers must undertake the time-consuming and often messy process of properly combining and mixing the powder with a container of liquid, measuring and depositing the appropriate amount of liquid or powder within the container and, thereafter, shake, stir or otherwise fully mix the combined contents. In doing so, powder and/or powder-liquid mix often spills, resulting in mess and partial loss of product.
To address these challenges, containers have been designed with two compartments in which two ingredients may be stored separately until it is desired to mix them, at which time it is possible to establish communication between the compartments so that the separated ingredients may move from one compartment to the other. It is known in the art to provide dispensers containing a concentrate of soluble materials to a fixed quantity of solute, usually water, for dispensing. Generally, the interior of the container is divided into a compartment having a liquid and a compartment which can be selectively ruptured by a user so as to mix the separately stored liquid or powder material on demand.
There are several drawbacks and limitations with the prior art containers of this type and design. Prior art containers are generally manufactured of a plurality of separate components that come together to form the breakaway. These multiple component designs are more expensive to manufacture and offer a less reliable seal that is subject to mechanical failure under pressure or temperature changes that accompany transportation and long term storage of the end product. Many of the prior art designs also offer a fully detached breakaway component that introduces dangerous nonconsummable loose material into the consumable solution. This may cause a choking hazard and should preferably be avoided, especially in applications such as infant formula. Other prior art designs offer a partially detached breakaway that tends to obstruct the delivery of the capsule contents or undesirably provide a place for contents to aggregate rather than mix into the solution.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an improved mixing cap or dispensing capsule that may be selectively and detachably mounted on a liquid-containing bottle or container enabling dry or liquid ingredients contained within the dispensing capsule to be conveniently deposited into the container and mixed with the liquid contents thereof that has none of the drawbacks or limitations of the prior art.